Group backs Karen Handel in Georgia Senate race

The American Future Fund, a heavy-spending national conservative group, is preparing to shake up the Georgia Senate race by throwing its support behind Republican Karen Handel in the state’s unsettled GOP primary.

A former Georgia secretary of state and Susan G. Komen official, Handel has attracted some national support – Sarah Palin recently endorsed her – but has struggled to raise money. AFF’s backing could offer a critical boost against better-funded opponents, including former Reebok CEO David Perdue and Rep. Jack Kingston.

AFF is the second major conservative group this week to join the GOP fray ahead of Georgia’s May 20 primary. The Ending Spending Action Fund went up with ads targeting both Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey and nonprofit executive Michelle Nunn, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The Georgia race has been one of the slowest to take shape this year, thanks to the sheer size of the Republican primary field. In addition to Gingrey, Perdue, Kingston and Handel, GOP Rep. Paul Broun is also in the race. Recent polls have shown Perdue leading the primary field thanks to early TV advertising powered by his personal wealth.

National Republicans fear that the wrong nominee could allow the moderate Nunn to compete seriously for the open red-state Senate seat in November. Broun and Gingrey make Beltway Republicans most anxious. If no candidate earns a majority of the vote in the primary, the top two finishers will compete in a July runoff.

Brian Baker, president of the Ending Spending Action Fund, said his group was going after Gingrey because it considered him unsuitable for the U.S. Senate – but unlike AFF, Baker said his group has no favored candidate in mind.

“Georgia deserves a senator who will stand up for taxpayers. It’s not Michelle Nunn and it’s not Phil Gingrey either,” Baker said.

AFF and Ending Spending are the first two truly big-spending groups on the right to engage in the Georgia race, though several activist outfits have issued endorsements. A number of the country’s best-financed conservative groups – including the Chamber of Commerce, American Crossroads and the harder-line Club for Growth – have not yet signaled whether they will get involved in the primary.